Shoemaking



Patented Dec. 10, 1946 snoEMAmNG Edwin L. Beckwith, Brookline, Mass., and Raymond B. Harrison, Dover, N. H., assignors to Beckwith Manufacturing Company, Dover, N. H., a corporation of New Hampshire Application February 15, 1945, Serial No. 578,038

This invention relates to shoes of the platform type and comprises improvements in platform soles and in the process of incorporating such soles into the structure of the shoe.

Platform shoes have been heretofore made by sewing the margin of the upper and a binding strip of upper material to the edge of a platform sole or sock lining off the last, and then wrapping the binding strip about the edge of the sole to impart an attractive finish thereto. The improved process of our invention dispenses with the sewing operation, or at least makes it optional. As an important and characteristic feature our invention consists in providing the platform sole with an open marginal groove into which the marginal portion of the upper material may be tucked and secured in place by cement. The exposed margin of the platform sole may then be finished or ornamented either by carrying the free margin of the upper material into a second marginal groove, or by placing a line of fair stitching in the margin of the sole to create a welt edge effect.

In one aspect our invention consists in a process of shoemaking which includes providing a thick platform or midsole with parallel marginal grooves, tucking and securing the margin of the upper into one of these grooves, and then tucking an extension of the margin into the second of said grooves, thereby binding the intermediate portion of the sole edge with a portion of the upper material. If desired, both tucked portions of the upper material may be secured by a line of through and through stitching.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of several preferred embodiments of our invention, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a view in cross-section showing portions of the upper and midsole or platform sole of a shoe,

Fig. 2 is a similar view wherein the structure includes an additional line of stitching, and

Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views illustrating modified constructions.

The platform sole shown in Fig. 1 may be of any commercially available construction as, for example, a composition of cork and rubber molded into an integral resilient sheet and from to A of an inch in thickness. The sole is provided with parallel grooves H and 12 in its marginal edge, spaced from each other and located respectively within the upper and lower faces of 6 Claims. (Cl. 3619) the platform sole. These grooves may be readily cut in the margin of the sole, or in some instances may be molded therein.

The lasting operation consists in tucking the lasting margin of the upper 13 intothe upper groove 1 I, preferably doubling the upper as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The upper may be previously cemented upon its inner face and the inturned portion of the margin becomes attached in place as soon as it is wiped into the groove H. The excess margin l5 of the upper is then wrapped downwardly over the peripheral surface of the platform sole and tucked into the lower groove 12, being similarly cemented in place. By the foregoing steps the lasting operation is completed since the inturned margin of the upper is forced into and secured within the groove ll, while the marginal edge of the platform sole between the two grooves is smoothly covered by the excess marginal portion of the upper. The portion of the upper between the two grooves serves as a binder finishing the edge of the sole and presenting an attractive and ornamental appearance. Below the binding portion of the upper a narrow shoulder of the sole is exposed and in the finished shoe this is located next to the outsole which is commonly cemented in face-to-face engagement to the bottom of the platform sole.

Fig. 2 suggests an optional and additional step which consists in placing a line of stitching It in the margin of the sole in such a manner as to pass through both folded portions of the upper and secure them positively in their inturned condition.

In Fig. 3 is disclosed a, modified form of our invention in which a single groove I8 is shown as formed in the edge surface of the platform sole l1, and instead of having a second groove the edge of the sole is shouldered providing an extension 20 projecting beyond the fold angle 2|. The projecting shoulder 20 may now be conveniently ornamented by a line of.fair stitching 22 which imparts .to the finished shoe the appearance of a welt seam.

Fig. 4 discloses a construction similar to that of Fig. 3 except that it includes in addition a through-and-through seam 23 passing through the body of the sole and the inturned folded margin of the upper 2|.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that we have provided a platform sole of novel construction having two or more longitudinal grooves in its edge face. This novel sole may be employed with advantage in the manufacture of platform shoes serving not only to retain the "i it; i 2,412,385

upper in lasted relation to the sole, but also providing an ornamental finish for the edge of the if it is ample enough to supply an inturned edge or flange entering the slot.

Having thus disclosed our. invention and described in detail illustrative embodiments thereof, we claim as new and desire'to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A shoe having a thick platform sole of resilient material provided with a pair of deep grooves extending in parallel relation about its peripheral edge, and an upper lasted to said sole, the margin of the upper being folded into one of said grooves, tucked into the other groove and providing a binding for the edge of the sole between the grooves.

2. A shoe having a thick platform sole of resilient material provided with spaced re-entrant grooves in its peripheral edge, an upper lasted to said sole and having its margin folded into one of said grooves and tucked into the other groove, and a line of stitching in the margin of thesolepassing through both folded portions of the upper.

3. The process of shoemaking which includes the steps of tucking the marginal portion of an upper in a single fold into an edge-grooved platform sole, fastening both sides of the fold by cement, and then wrapping the margin of the upper material as a binding strip over the edge surface of the sole.

4. The process of shoemaking which includes the steps of lasting an upper intoone of two parallel spaced edge grooves in a platform sole and tucking the edge of the upper into the other groove, thereby securing the upper in lastedzrelation to the sole and wrappingthe margin of the upper over the edge of the sole as a binding strip;

5. The'process of shoemaking which includes the steps of providing spaced arallel grooves in the edge of a thick platform sole, lasting and tucking an upper in a single fold into one groove, and then tucking the margin of the upper into the other groove, thereby securing the upper in lasted relation to the sole and covering the edge of the sole with a portion of the upper as a binding strip. i

6. The process of shoemaking which includes the steps of providing spaced parallel grooves in the edge of a thick platform sole, tucking an upper into one of said grooves in single fold and tucking its free edge into the other groove, and then sewing through both tucked-in portions of the upper and the sole.

EDWIN L. BECKWITH. y it RAYMOND B. HARRISON. 

